Method and apparatus for auctioning items

ABSTRACT

An electronic auction system which Includes a Central Auction Controller (CAC) that allows sellers to list items for auction and users to enter bids and rank srdorings Is disclosed. The CAC maintains a central database comprising a database of user information, a database of Items and bids and a database of vendor information. Administration of the system is accomplished via an I/O device and CPU and an optional e-mail processor allows automated messaging to users. This methodology allows users to effectively bid on a large number of mutually exclusive items but receive at most one item at the end of the auction.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for performingautomated auctions, and specifically those auctions involving bidding onitems that are somewhat mutually exclusive, and/or those types ofauctions which are resolved on a collective basis with reference to morethan one demand constraint provided in a bid.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The practice of online auctions has grown at a dramatic pace. Auctionsites have been developed for a wide range of products. This hasresulted in an active, dynamic pricing environment for many products.The standard auction practice may result in the maximization of theseller's revenue in some instances. Additional information on electronicauction and bidding systems can be found in such U.S. Pat. Nos.6,041,308, 6,021,398, 6,012,046, 6,012,045, 5,924,082, 5,835,896,5,845,266 and 5,689,652, which are hereby incorporated by referenceherein. Commercial examples of auctions systems are also accessibleonline on the Internet, at websites managed by such companies as E-Bay,Yahoo, and other similar sites.

However, the standard auction practice is limited in some respects. Auser may not be able to utilize two mutually exclusive items. Forexample, one person cannot physically use two golf tee times at the sametime, on the same date at two different golf courses. Or, a user may notwant to take possession of more than one out of a collection of items.For example, a user may only wish to accept one golf tee time on eitherSaturday or Sunday, but not a time on both Saturday and Sunday.Therefore, users can bid on only one mutually exclusive item at a time.If they are the high bidder on more than one item, they may dispose ofthe other item through resale or allowing it to expire in the case oftime-based items. At the same time, a user bidding on only one mutuallyexclusive item decreases the probability they will be successful. Ifthey bid on more than one item, they increase the probability they willbe successful bidding on any one of the items. However, they risk beingthe winning bidder on more than one item.

From the seller's perspective, if bidders only place bids on onemutually exclusive item at a time, the number of bids on any one itemwill be less than if they placed bids on multiple items simultaneouslywhich lowers the expected winning bid. Also, if bidders limit themselvesto a single bid, the probability no one will place a bid on anyindividual item increases, thus lowering the probability the seller willsuccessfully sell their item.

Furthermore, the standard auction method does not allow the simultaneousmaximization of two constraints. For example, a bidder may have a rangeof preferences and maximum prices they are willing to pay for a set ofitems. However, standard auction practices do not allow the simultaneousmaximization of both user preference and bid prices. They only maximizebased upon bid price. While U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,082 referenced aboveincludes an option for providing ranking information, this option doesnot allow a bidder to prioritize bids in such system. Moreover, thesystem described therein does not actually consummate a bid for an item,but rather merely identifies potential acceptable transactions betweentwo parties.

Finally, while there is some prior art capability to perform bidding onmultiple items of the same kind (in so-called Dutch auctions), thebidding process there is not optimized from the perspective of theseller, since the lowest winning bid price for the item is awarded toall the other winning bids, even if such latter bids are much higher. Inother words, if 100 persons bid on 5 identical widgets, the five winningbidders all pay the same price, equal to the 5^(th) highest bid, andthis result can distort the bidding process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to eliminate theproblems generally inherent in the aforementioned prior art systems.

Another object of the invention is to provide a system and method forflexibly auctioning mutually exclusive items.

It is another object of the invention to allow users to enter bids and arank order for mutually exclusive items to maximize the users'preference while simultaneously maximizing the bid amount, thusutilizing more than one constraint when conducting an electronicauction.

A further object of the invention is to provide a system and method forallowing a user to enter bids on multiple, mutually exclusive items butonly receive the item corresponding to their highest ranked, winningbid.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a system and methodfor allowing a seller of a particular item to maximize both the numberand quality of bids made in an auction for such item by increasing theprobability that an item will receive a bid;

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanismby which a number of similarly related items can be aggregated andauctioned simultaneously to a number of separate purchasers, such as forexample, a group of tee times at a particular golf course that areallocated on a daily basis to a group of competing golf players (oralternatively, a group of travel seats, a group of restaurant seats,concert seats, hotel rooms, automobiles, etc.);

A related object of the present invention is to further organize andcombine successful bidders at the end of the auction so that theirenjoyment of the item is further optimized, such as, for example, in thecase of a group of persons successfully bidding for a golf tee time,where such persons can be allocated a priority of play within such teetime that ensures maximum playability according to some additionalcharacteristic, such as their skill level;

Still another object of the present invention is to allow a user tominimize their required involvement in the auction process by enablingthem to enter multiple bids on multiple items without worry that theywill receive more than one item. This can be true when all items areincluded in an auction ending at the same time or when items are in aseries of auctions that close on successive dates.

Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from aconsideration of the ensuing description and accompanying drawings.These advantages and many more are realized by the many aspects andfeatures of the present inventions, which include:

A first aspect of the present invention, including a system and methodfor allowing a bidder to enter bid information for an electronicauction, which incorporates the steps of: reviewing a database of itemsavailable for auction; entering a set of bids for a corresponding set ofitems selected from the database, each bid in the set of bids includingat least a bid price and a bid ranking for an item. In this manner, thebidder can specify a bid ranking for an item represents a desired orderin which a bid is to be resolved in the electronic auction.

In a variation of this aspect of the invention, a set of bids from anyparticular bidder each includes a unique bid ranking for each of thecorresponding set of items. Furthermore, the bidder can also provide amaximum bid price for each bid, and an auto-bid indicator for raisingthe bid price as needed until the maximum bid price is reached. Thebidder can also monitor a status of the electronic auction, including ahigh bid for an item, and information relating to other conditional bidsfor the item, such as a number of conditional bids that equal or exceedthe highest unconditional bid. This information helps to stimulate thebidding process, and to enhance the number of bids made by participants.

A further variation of this embodiment presents an option to the bidderso that they can opt out of the auction process if desired by selectinga guaranteed purchase option for an item, which is typically higher thana highest bid price, but avoids further delay and involvement for thebidder.

Another aspect of the present invention concerns a system and method formonitoring bid information for an electronic auction. This includes thefollowing operations: retrieving a set of items from an auction databasein accordance with a specified search criteria; displaying the set ofitems; and for each item in the set of items, displaying a currenthighest unconditional bid price and information relating to anyconditional bids for the item. Again, the display of conditional bidinformation acts as a facilitator for motivating submission ofadditional bids by potential purchasers.

In a variation of this aspect of the invention, the set of itemsdisplayed correspond to inventory to be auctioned during a commonauction period. Furthermore, the information relating to the conditionalbids includes a numerical value indicating a number of the conditionalbids having a bid price equal to or exceeding the highest unconditionalbid price and/or a minimum bid price for the item.

Again in a more specific variant of this aspect of the invention, theauction items correspond to access rights to an entertainment facility,such as a golf course, where the bidders are bidding to perform anactivity (such as playing golf) at a desired golf tee time such course.Other access rights are also auctionable, of course, for enjoyingactivities at movie, concert, restaurants, theme parks, travel and othervenues to name a few.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a system and methodof participating in an electronic auction which is based on at least twoconstraints, namely a bid price and a bid rank. This generally comprisesthe following steps by the bidding participants: reviewing a database ofitems available for auction; entering a set of bids for a correspondingset of items selected from the database, each bid in the set of bidsincluding at least a bid price and a bid ranking for an item; andprocessing the set of bids based on both the bid price and the bidranking for the corresponding set of items to determine if there is atleast one winning bid for one of the corresponding set of items.

Again, in a variation on this aspect of the present invention, theauction items are aggregated and considered en masse for a particularauction based on a common predefined auction period. The processing stepdetermines how the corresponding set of items should be auctioned basedon first considering a highest ranking bid submitted. During the bidsubmission process, each user submits a set of bids that includes atleast one unconditional bid for a highest ranked item taken from thecorresponding set of items, and the remainder of the set of bids arecomprised of conditional bids for items ranked below the highest rankeditem. The conditional bids are not considered unless the bidder'sunconditional bid is unsuccessful for the highest ranked item.

Further in a variant of this aspect of the invention, an additionalnotification step is performed to notify a bidder when a highest rankedbid is unsuccessful for a corresponding item. This allows the bidder toincrease a bid price for the highest ranked bid and thus re-enter theauction process if desired. If the bidder does not change his/her bid,the highest ranked bid is declared inactive, and the next highest bid isnow considered. If however, one bid from the set of bids is satisfiedfor a bidder, any remaining bids are not evaluated for the bidder. Inthis way, the bidder can be guaranteed never to have to take possessionof more than one item, even across multiple item biddings, and multipleauctions. The system also accommodates multiple sets of bids entered bymultiple participants in the auction. The multiple sets of bids aresubjected to the auction processing to determine a single winning bidfor each of the corresponding set of items.

Yet another aspect of the present invention covers a system and methodfor participating in an electronic auction that considers bothconditional and unconditional bids. This system and method uses thefollowing operational steps: selecting a set of N items from a databaseof items available for auction, the set of N items being characterizedby a common auction expiration period; entering a set of N bids for theset of N items, such that the set of N bids includes at least oneunconditional bid for one item in the set of N items, and the remainderof the set of N bids being comprised of conditional bids for a remainderof the N items; processing the set of bids prior to the common auctionexpiration period to determine if there is at least one winning bid inthe set of bids, the processing being performed such that theconditional bids are not considered unless the unconditional bid for theone item is unsuccessful, and such that at most only a single item fromthe set of N items is matched to a single one of the set of N bids whendetermining the at least one winning bid.

Using this approach, a bidder can control the bidding process by rankingthe N bids in accordance with a desired auction resolution order. Theitems are auctioned based on first considering a highest ranking bidsubmitted by the bidders, rather than by solely considering a highestbid made for the item. Thus, each set of bids for a bidder includes atleast one unconditional bid for a highest ranked item taken from thecorresponding set of items, and the remainder of the set of bids arecomprised of conditional bids for items ranked below the highest rankeditem.

Still a further aspect of the invention includes a system and methodthat allow a bidder to submit a single set of bids that are consideredfor more than one auction. This is done generally by a system that canhandle the following operations: accepting a first bid for a firstauction item that is to be auctioned during a first auction expirationperiod; and accepting a second bid, prior to expiration of the firstauction expiration period, for a second auction item that is to be to beauctioned during a second auction expiration period; processing thefirst bid prior to the first auction expiration period to determine ifit is a winning bid for the first auction item, such that the second bidis discarded when the first bid is a winning bid; and when the first bidis not a winning bid, the second bid is processed prior to the secondauction expiration period to determine if it is a winning bid for secondauction item.

Thus, the first bid is treated an unconditional bid, and the second bidis treated as a conditional bid until the first bid is determined to beunsuccessful. This way, the bidder can enter even two bids, but at mostonly one of the first bid and second bid are declared as a winning bid.

A related aspect of the present invention allows a purchaser to morespecifically bid on a right of access to one or more facilities, each ofwhich facilities has a finite capacity for accommodating purchasers at aparticular time. This aspect of the invention includes a system andmethod that achieve the following: retrieving access items related tothe one or more facilities, the access items each corresponding to anaccess time available at the one or more facilities; selecting a set ofaccess items from the access items, the set of access items being basedon a selected access time and selected facility chosen by the purchaser;entering a set of bids for the set of access items, such that each bidfrom the set of bids includes both a bid price and a bid ranking for anaccess item. In this fashion, the purchaser can control through the bidranking in what order the set of bids are considered to determinewhether they are winning bids for any of the access items.

By allowing the set of bids to further include personal informationconcerning the purchaser (such as the purchaser's skill level at aparticular task), such personal information can be compared against thatof other purchasers to determine a final access time awarded to thepurchaser for the access items. For example, it may be used to ensurethat advanced players at a golf course are paired together at an earlierstart time than more novice players, to enhance playability andenjoyment for all the participants.

In another variation of this aspect of the invention, a facility managercan participate and manage an auction inventory by dividing a capacityof the facility into a set of access time windows. This allows thecapacity to be logically parceled by creating a set of access rightitems based on the set of access time windows, the access right itemsincluding at least an access starting time and access durationassociated with performing an activity at the facility. The access rightitems further include a capacity value specifying a number of personsthat can perform the activity at the facility during the access timewindow. An access time spacing can also be specified such that aplurality of access right items can be associated with an access timewindow, and the plurality of access right items are separated in time bythe access time spacing. For instance, a particular golf tee time windowmay include six separate starting times spaced apart by 10 minutes foreach group, so 6 separate items can be associated with a particular timewindow.

In still another variation of this aspect of the invention, the accessitems correspond to a right to play golf at a selected time and at aselected golf facility. In a further preferred embodiment, the accesstime awarded in the auction at the golf course does not necessarilycorrespond not a single specific time but rather a window of time whichincludes multiple potential starting times. The final determination ofexact starting times is determined by grouping players according toplaying ability so players will be assigned to play with otherpurchasers of similar capability. This same principle is extendible, ofcourse, so that purchasers with other similar skill capabilities inother fields, or other similar attributes (age, tastes, preferences) canbe paired at a common final access time.

A further aspect of the present invention includes an embodiment inwhich up to N separate items can be bid upon by M separate userssubmitting M sets of bids, and where M>>N, and such that each user'spreferences are considered by examining a highest ranked bid, regardlessof whether such bid is a highest bid for a particular item. Again, tofacilitate and optimize the auction process, the bid prices for theitems, but not the bid rankings by other users, are visible to thebidders during the common auction period.

Another aspect of the present invention more specifically concerns amethod of conducting an electronic auction of a group of items within apredetermined auction time period, which method includes the followingsteps: receiving a plurality of bids from a plurality of potentialpurchasers, the plurality of bids each including a bid price for an itemin the group and a bid ranking for the item; examining the bids tocreate a set of active bids for the item, the set of active bids beingcomprised only of bids having a highest bid ranking for the item andcorresponding to a subset of the plurality of bids from a subset of theplurality of potential purchasers; creating an ordered set of activebids for the item based on a bid price provided for the bid; determininga minimum winning bid for the item by examining the ordered set ofactive bids; notifying a corresponding one potential purchaser from thesubset of potential purchasers when an associated active bid for theitem from the potential purchaser has an associated active bid pricebelow the minimum winning bid; setting a selected active bid in theordered set of active bids as a winning bid for the item when theselected active bid exceeds the minimum winning bid.

In a variation of this aspect of the invention, the associated activebid is dropped from consideration when the one potential purchaser doesnot increase the associated active bid price within a predetermined timeperiod. The system then selects a next highest ranking bid as an activebid for a different item in the group for those potential purchasers notobtaining the winning bid for the item. A minimum price set by a sellerof the item can also be considered in some variants to determine whethera minimum winning bid exists.

Again, in these variants of the invention, the winning bid is notnecessarily determined by reference to which of the bids has a highestbid price for a respective one of the group of items.

An auction processing engine comprising another aspect of the presentinvention operates to conduct an electronic auction by identifying a setof highest ranked bids from bids made by bidders for the item;designating the set of highest ranked bids as active bids for thebidders; determining whether any of the active bids are a potentialwinning bid for the item by comparing the active bids against each otherand any previously determined winning bid; designating any active bidthat is a potential winning bid as a winning bid; deleting any activebids that are not designated as a winning bid; repeating some of theabove steps during an auction period until no active bids remaining thatare higher than the winning bid.

One variation of the auction engine also calls for the same to performone or more of the following additional steps: notifying a bidder if anactive bid for the bidder is not a preliminary winning bid, andspecifying a re-bid period for the bidder to increase the active bid;accepting a new active bid from a bidder during the re-bid period, whichnew active bid has a higher bid price than an earlier active bid fromthe bidder; designating a next highest ranked bid from the bidder as anactive bid for another item when the bidder does not increase the activebid during the re-bid period.

Again, in a preferred approach, any active bids for an item aredesignated without regard to a bid price of the bids. The auction enginecan simultaneously auction a plurality of items, each with a set ofcorresponding active bids at the same time to determine a plurality ofwinning bids. A winning bid is determined by examining a highest bidprice taken from the active bids, not a highest bid price taken from allbids on the item. Again, in various incarnations of the invention, eachbidder can submit a plurality of bids for a plurality of items, but atmost only one of the bids is declared a winning bid.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a moreparticular method of auctioning mutually exclusive items, by performingthe following operational steps using a computing system configured forsuch purpose: receiving a listing of a plurality of mutually exclusiveitems from a plurality of sellers; receiving a plurality of ranked bidsfrom a plurality of users on the plurality of mutually exclusive items;identifying a plurality of highest ranked bids for each of the pluralityof users; tagging the plurality of highest ranked bids as active bids;using only the active bids to determine a plurality of preliminarywinning bids for the plurality of mutually exclusive items; tagging theplurality of preliminary winning bids; eliminating all non-winning bids;identifying a plurality of next highest ranked bids for each of theplurality of users not obtaining a winning bid; designating theplurality of next highest ranked bids as active bids; comparing only theactive bids and the winning bids; identifying a new preliminary winningbid for each of the plurality of mutually exclusive items and taggingthe new preliminary winning bid; processing the plurality of ranked bidsduring a bidding period until all of the plurality of users have eithera winning bid or no remaining active bids; and transmitting the resultsof the auction to the plurality of users.

In other variations of this aspect of the invention, the ranked bid ismade to purchase a mutually exclusive item usable by a group of two ormore individuals (such as a group of golf players). New ranked bids maybe submitted any time before an end of the bidding period. A notice isconveyed to a user if an associated user current active bid isdesignated a non-winning bid, the notice giving a prescribed time frameto increase the non-winning bid. The non-winning bid is declared anon-active bid if the user does not increase the bid during theprescribed time frame.

A further aspect of the present invention includes a system forconducting an electronic auction of items, which system includes anauction controller accessible by a number of bidding computing systems;an auction inventory database accessible by the auction controller, andbeing adapted to store identifying information for the items; and anauction bid database accessible by the auction controller, and beingadapted to store information for bids on the items, each of the bidsincluding both a bid price and a bid ranking for an item. The auctioncontroller is configured such that it processes the bids for the itemsin accordance with both the bid price and the bid ranking for the itemsas noted above.

A variation of this aspect of the invention includes one or more of ane-mail processor for notifying bidders of results of the electronicauction, and/or an administrative computing device for performingadministrative tasks for the auction controller. The bidding computingsystems (a desktop computer, a notebook computer, an intelligentterminal, a PDA, a cell phone, or some other device) is connectedthrough a network to the auction controller.

Still a further aspect of the invention relates to a system forconducting an electronic auction of items where the system includes: anelectronic auction file for storing information concerning auctionitems; an electronic bid file for storing a set of bids for acorresponding set of items selected from the auction file, each bid inthe set of bids including at least a bid price and a bid ranking for anitem; and an electronic auction processor for processing the set of bidsbased on both the bid price and the bid ranking for the correspondingset of items to determine if there is at least one winning bid for oneof the corresponding set of items. The system is set up in accordancewith the discussion above so that a user can bid on more than one itemin the electronic auction, but the electronic auction processor willonly generate at most a single winning bid for the user.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a system for participating inan electronic auction which includes a set of N items stored in adatabase of items available for auction, the set of N items beingcharacterized by a common auction expiration period; a bid inputinterface for entering a set of N bids for the set of N items, the bidinput interface constraining the set of N bids such that at least oneone unconditional bid is provided for one item in the set of N items,and the remainder of the set of N bids are comprised of conditional bidsfor a remainder of the N items; and an auction processor coupled to thedatabase of items and the bid input interface, and being further adaptedto process the set of bids prior to the common auction expiration periodto determine if there is at least one winning bid in the set of bids,the processing being performed such that the conditional bids are notconsidered unless the unconditional bid for the one item isunsuccessful, and such that at most only a single item from the set of Nitems is matched to a single one of the set of N bids when determiningthe at least one winning bid. In this manner, a user can control thebidding process and be assure of obtaining at most one item from anauction inventory.

A further aspect of the invention concerns a system for participating inan electronic auction which includes a database of auction items, theauction items including first auction items available for bidding duringa first auction period, and second auction items available for biddingduring a second bidding period; a bid input device for transmitting afirst bid for one of the first auction items and a second bid for one ofthe second auction items, the first and second bids being received froma single bidder prior to an expiration of the first auction period; andan auction processor coupled to the database of auction items and thebid input device, and being further adapted to determine if the firstbid is a winning bid prior to the expiration of the first auctionperiod; and being further configured to process the second bid when thefirst bid is finally determined to be not a winning bid. In this manner,a user can participate in more than one auction, and have his/her bidsrolled over to a succeeding auction in the event of an unsuccessfuleffort during a first auction.

Still another aspect of the invention pertains to an internet basedsystem for allowing a web user/purchaser to bid on a right to play golfat a selected time and at a selected golf facility in an electronicauction. The system includes: a query interface for presenting a list ofavailable golf playing opportunities to the purchaser, the golf playingopportunities including information identifying both a golf course and atime at the golf course available for playing golf; a bid interfaceadapted to allow the purchaser to enter a bid for each of the one ormore golf playing opportunities, the bid including both a bid price anda bid ranking for each of the one or more golf playing opportunities, sothat a set of purchaser bids are created for the one or more golfplaying opportunities; an auction processor for processing the set ofpurchaser bids, along with third party bids for the one or more golfplaying opportunities, to determine winning bids for the golf playingopportunities; and an e-mail notification system for notifying thepurchaser when a currently highest ranked bid from the purchaser isdetermined to be a winning bid or when the currently highest ranked bidis determined to be not a winning bid. The auction processor is locatedon an online accessible server, and is configured: 1) to allow thepurchaser to increase the bid price for the highest ranked bid within apredetermined time period when the highest ranked bid is determined tobe not a winning bid; 2) to evaluate new bids until the end of thecommon expiration period, and until all of the purchaser bids aredetermined to be not winning bids, or until one of the purchaser bids isdetermined to be a winning bid. Using such system, a purchaser ispermitted to bid on multiple golf playing opportunities using the set ofpurchaser bids, but at most only a single one of the set of purchaserbids is satisfied as a winning bid.

A related aspect of the present invention deals with an electronicauction program for processing auction bids for an item. This program ispreferably executed at least in part at a remote server destinationsite, and partially at a user client side site. The program includes afirst program portion for identifying a set of highest ranked bids frombids made by bidders for the item, and for designating the set ofhighest ranked bids as active bids for the bidders; a second programportion for determining whether any of the active bids are a potentialwinning bid for the item by comparing the active bids against each otherand any previously determined winning bid; a third program portion fordesignating any active bid that is a potential winning bid as a winningbid; a fourth program portion for deleting any active bids that are notdesignated as a winning bid; and a fifth program portion forcoordinating the first program portion, the second program portion, thethird program portion and the fourth program portion during an auctionperiod until no active bids remaining that are higher than the winningbid.

By preferably locating the electronic auction program at a computingsystem accessible by a plurality of user computing devices, thisincreases the exposure and likelihood of obtaining reasonable bids forthe auction items. Thus, the computing system is preferably a serveraccessible on the internet, and the user computing devices include webbrowsers for interacting with web pages on the server for entering thebids.

Another related aspect of the present inventions includes a web basedauction system interface configured for performing I/O operationsbetween a bidder and an auction system through a browser. This web basedinterface includes: an auction query interface that is adapted forviewing auction items and receiving user queries through the browserconcerning the auction items, and further for retrieving one or more ofthe auction items in response to such user queries; and an auction bidentry interface that is adapted for receiving user bids for the auctionitems, the auction bid entry interface including both a bid price entryfield and a bid ranking field for any auction item that receives a userbid.

A variation of this aspect further includes an auction status interfacefor monitoring progress of an auction for the auction items during anauction period. Furthermore, the auction bid entry interface is coded sothat the user can enter a plurality of bids on a plurality of auctionitems, with each of the plurality of auction items receiving a differentranking from any other of the plurality of auction items. This interfacefurther allows a user to enter bids which carry over from a firstauction to a second auction when the bids are not successful during thefirst auction.

Still another aspect of the invention concerns an internet accessibleelectronic auction site configured for coordinating transactions betweena bidder and an auction system. This internet accessible electronicauction site includes: means for accessing auction items available forbidding; an auction query interface adapted for viewing within a webbrowser and configured for receiving user queries through the browserconcerning the auction items, and for retrieving one or more of theauction items in response to such user queries; an auction biddinginterface adapted for viewing within the web browser and configured forreceiving user bid entries through the browser concerning the one ormore auction items, the auction bidding interface including at least afirst field for receiving a bid amount and a second field for receivinga bid ranking for each user bid entry; and an auction controller forprocessing the user bid entries to determine winning bids for the one ormore auction items. As indicated above, this system, too, as with theothers, is capable of simultaneously auctioning all the items at thesame time.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to a more particularelectronic auction system that comprises: means for entering auctioninventory items; and means for storing the auction inventory items; andmeans for reviewing the auction inventory items; and means for queryingthe auction inventory items to create selected auction inventory itemssatisfying selection criteria of a potential buyer; means for entering abid amount and a bid ranking for one or more of the selected auctioninventory items to create one or more bid entries; means storing the bidentries; means for processing the bid entries to determine winning bidsfor the auction inventory items, the winning bids being based on boththe bid amount and the bit ranking; means for transmitting anotification associated with the winning bids to one or more bidders.

In another variation, one or more of the following sub-systems are alsoincluded to enhance the appeal and utility of the system:means forcoordinating payment of any winning bids; means to observe a status ofany auctions; means to store user information; means to store vendorinformation; and means to store and retrieve historical auction resultsso that users can better understand the auction process, and moreintelligently formulate bids appropriate for a particular inventoryitem.

An advantage of the invention is that it allows a user to enter bids onmultiple, mutually exclusive items yet only receive the itemcorresponding to their highest ranked, winning bid. Yet anotheradvantage of the invention is that it increases the probability of anyone item receiving at least one bid, thus maximizing returns to sellersof such items.

The referenced system provides a highly advantageous manner tosimultaneously auction mutually exclusive items. Mutually exclusiveitems may either be multiple items that physically cannot be possessedsimultaneously or they may be more than one item that the user would notwish to simultaneously possess. This system allows the user to entermultiple, rank ordered bids that are sequentially processed. This allowsthe user to effectively bid on a large number of items while onlyreceiving the item corresponding to their single, highest ranked,winning bid. This method increases the probability the user willsuccessfully bid for one item; decreases the probability the user willbe out bid at the last moment of the auction on all items of interest;significantly reduces the incentive for entering a slightly higher bidthan the current winning bid at the last moment; and, significantlydecreases the amount of auction involvement required by the user.

This method also benefits sellers by increasing the probability ofreceiving at least one bid for their item and increasing the expectedwinning bid amount. Consider the following case. Three bidders arebidding on three nearly identical, mutually exclusive items. All threebidders place their bids moments before the end of the auction. If allthree bidders bid on the same item, two of the items receive no bids. Ifall three bidders place bids on all three items and rank order theirpreferences for each item, the bids can be processed such that eachbidder receives at least one item. Assuming nearly equal preference forthe three items by all three bidders, this new outcome is much preferredto the case where all three bidders bid on the same item. In the presentexample, all bidders receive nearly the same utility from the items theywon and all sellers sold their items. This contrasts sharply with onlyone successful bidder and only one successful seller in the baselineexample.

Thus, one significant benefit of the present invention lies in the factthat mutually exclusive items are included in the same auction or theitems may be bid upon in successive auctions. In the latter case, therank ordering of the items is constrained such that the auction closingdate for each successively ranked item is the same or later than theauction closing date of the preceeding ranked item.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a preferred embodiment of a system for auctioningmutually exclusive items utilizing the present invention

FIG. 1A shows a preferred electronic format of an auction item used inthe electronic auction system of the present invention.

FIG. 1B illustrates a preferred format for an auction item of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart demonstrating a preferred method used by anauction processing engine to auction mutually exclusive items with thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is an example showing an exemplary bid and rank order listingtable for a prospective bidder.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary auction cross reference table showing three itemsand three users with their bids and rank orderings displayed.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary table indicating the outcome of the auction shownin FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a preferred embodiment of a user query interface screenshowing auction search input data fields.

FIG. 7 is a preferred embodiment of a user search results interfacescreen showing auction search output data fields.

FIG. 8 is a preferred embodiment of a user bid entry interface screenshowing a completed bid entry page.

FIG. 9 is a preferred embodiment of a seller auction inventory inputscreen.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart demonstrating the general method used by a userto identify and bid upon mutually exclusive items in the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A detailed explanation of the preferred embodiments is now provided asillustrated in the drawings and discussed herein.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred system 10 for the auction of mutually exclusiveitems. As described herein, while a preferred embodiment uses aparticular tee time at a particular golf course as the “item” forauction, it will be understood that the term is intended in its broadestsense, and the invention is not limited in this respect. Thus, an “item”can refer to any number of tangible articles and intangible properties,or to a right of access or use to a particular facility (such as atravel seat, hotel room, restaurant seat, concert seat, etc.) Moreover,the term “mutually exclusive” in this regard is meant from theperspective that a would-be purchaser is perhaps only interested inowning one of the items (i.e., such as only one tee time on a particularday) even if he/she bids on more than one item at a time, and/or that itis not possible to own more than one item at a time because they areinconsistent, incompatible, etc. (i.e., such as owning the same tee timeat two different locations).

A Central Auction Controller (CAC) 100 manages all data input andauction bid processing for any items that are involved in an electronicauction. Any number of sellers can enter item inventory for auction andview auction status and results using I/O devices 105, 115 which areattached to computers 110, 120 that exchange data with CAC 100. Thesellers login to an electronic auction system 10 using their respectiveI/O devices and CPUs 105, 110, 115, 120 which transmit necessary logininformation to CAC 100. CAC 100 verifies seller login information orallows the seller/vendor to establish a new vendor account in one ormore databases represented by database 155, such as vendor database 170.Once logged into system 10, sellers may list inventory for auction usingI/O devices 105, 115 and their respective CPUs 110, 120. Seller CPUs110, 120 thus transmit auction inventory information to CAC 100 where isit stored in an auction database 165. Sellers may also query CAC 100regarding results of previous auctions, and can request that CAC 100retrieve auction results from auction database 165 and transmits thesame back to the sellers. The I/O devices 105, 115 and CPUs 110, 120used by the Sellers can consist of conventional modem communicationdevices, personal computing systems, and devices which combine suchfunctionalities (i.e., such as a PDA). Preferably, of course, theSellers can access CAC over a network, such as the Internet, using aconventional browser viewing a website page (not shown) maintained andcontrolled by CAC 100, or through a wireless network connection asprovided by an intelligent cell-phone, PDA, etc.

Potential purchasers of the items for auction can view open auctions andreview the results of previous auctions using the I/O devices 125, 135which are attached to computers 130, 140 that exchange data with the CAC100. These devices can be of the same type as used by the Sellers notedabove. Again, too, prospective purchasers are preferably given access toauction data over a conventional Internet link and using a conventionalbrowser to maximize the availability of the auction information, orthrough a wireless network connection as provided by an intelligentcell-phone, PDA, etc. Users login to system 10 using I/O devices 125,135 and their respective CPUs 130, 140, which transmit appropriate logininformation to CAC 100. CAC 100 verifies user login information orallows a user to establish a new user account in user database 160. Oncea user is permitted access into system 10, they can submit an auctioninventory query and thus cause CAC 100 to search auction database 165for inventory that meets user input query parameters (defined in moredetail below). The CAC 100 transmits the auction search results fordisplay on the user I/O devices 130, 140. Inventory included in thesearchable database may all have the same bid closing date and time.However, the inventory available for bids may also have different bidclosing dates. In the case of different bid closing dates, the rankordering of the items must be such that the auction closing date foreach successively ranked item is the same or later than the auctionclosing date of the preceeding ranked item.

System users enter bids for auction items on their respective I/Odevices and CPUs 125, 130, 135, 140 that are transmitted to the CAC 100.These bids (which include more than just price information as discussedin more detail below) are stored in auction database 165. CAC 100processes bids as they are received, and sends notifications to usersvia an e-mail processor 175. Upon close of an auction bid time window,CAC 100 processes all outstanding bids and determines any winning usersfor each of the auction items.

Administration of the auction process is performed through I/O device145 attached to administrative computer 150 that exchanges data with CAC100. As noted earlier, CAC 100 stores and retrieves relevant user,auction and vendor data from databases 155, which databases may belocated at one server, or potentially many different servers accessibleto CAC 100. In particular, user database 160 stores registration datafor system users, such as names, addresses, identification numbers,payment information, etc. A system administrator can login to system 10to check the status of current auctions, to update user or vendorinformation or perform other normal maintenance of the system via theirI/O device and CPU 145, 150.

Auction database 165 stores records of the inventory of items availablefor bid, current bids and results of previous auctions. Seller database170 stores registration data for sellers, including names, addresses,and any other desired information appropriate for the item inventory.CAC 100 also controls an e-mail processor 175, which, as noted above, isconfigured to send messages to users, sellers and an administrator, toinform them, for example, of item auction status, reminders, itemparticulars, etc.

The particular details of the hardware described above are not materialto the present invention, and therefore are not discussed at lengthhere. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that any numberof different commercially conventional computing systems could beconfigured in an appropriate and conventional fashion for the purposesneeded to achieve the present objectives.

FIG. 1A shows a preferred electronic format of an auction item 178 usedin the electronic auction system 10 of the present invention, whichincludes at least an ID field 180 for uniquely identifying a particularitem. As discussed earlier, an “item” in the preferred embodimentrepresents: (1) a right of access to enjoy some activity (in this caseto play golf) indicated by an item descriptor field 181; (2) at aparticular location (golf course) indicated by location field 182; (3)at a particular time (tee time) indicated by time field 183; (4) for aparticular duration indicated at duration field 184; and finally (5) aquantity of the items available at quantify field 185 (defining the sizeof the group of item(s) which can be a numerical value greater than orequal to 1). Thus, for each item (or group of items), information for atleast these five parameters are presented to a user during the biddingprocess, as seen in FIG. 1A. Furthermore, each item will typically haveassociated with it an auction expiration date field 186, which definesan auction time window in which bids will be processed from varioususers. An additional minimum price field 187 a is used to set a minimumbid price for the item, if that is desired. A reserved price field 187 bdesignated “guaranteed price” might be used in some applications, whichcan represent a numerical value for which if a bid is received, the useris guaranteed to receive the item in question without further bidding.This option might be of use, for example, so that sellers can setvisible reserve prices. Additional fields for other administrativeinformation (such as payment requirements, spacing between tee times,group sizes, etc.) can be provided in additional fields (not shown) asdesired based on the nature of the particular item, system, etc.

A user bid entry 179 is shown in FIG. 1B. This includes a user ID (field188 a) user bid price (field 188 b) and ranking (field 189) and optionalinformation (field 190) are also provided and are filled in by theindividual bids provided by users as indicated below. Other informationrelevant to such bid entry 179 (i.e., such as the item ID number 180, auser's maximum bid price, a user's skill level, etc.) is not shown herebut are understood to be implicit to the extent they are useful forimplementing the benefits of the present invention.

The particular types of fields used in auction item 178 and used in bidentry 179 in any environment will vary, of course, from application toapplication, so it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatthe foregoing is merely the preferred approach used in the presentembodiments.

In the case where all displayed inventory items have bid on by the userhave the same auction expiration date 186, the values entered in theranking field 189 for any particular bid may follow any desired order.However, in the case where the auction expiration dates 186 aredifferent for the selected inventory bid on by the user, the valuesentered in the ranking field 189 are preferably constrained to simplifythe auction process. In the preferred embodiment, a ranking for an itemin an earlier auction closing date must always be higher (morepreferred) than any ranking given to an item in a later auction closingdate. This is done to ensure that all bids for each auction will beresolved before the next auction closing date. This approach thusguarantees that at any moment in time the pool of outstanding bidsconsists of only the set of highest ranking bids from each user and thatno bid more preferable for any user is being ignored.

Some users of the present invention on the vendor side may wish to havean item correspond to multiple, rather than single rights of access, sothat, for example, an item might represent a tee time for four players,rather than one, so that the inventory can be packaged and managed inthis fashion instead.

Already one significant difference to the prior art is apparent, in thatthe “items” 178 and bid entries 179 of the present invention aredistinct from the access rights auctioned at some prior art electronicauction sites where, for example, the user is only permitted to specifya date, and then an embarkation location followed by a disembarkationlocation. There is no ability to control or specify a particular seat,or even a particular flight in the prior art system. Of course,additional information could be specified for the item depending on theenvironment in which the invention is practiced, and it is expected thatsome degree of routine fine tuning will be necessary to optimize thecapabilities and performance of any such system.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method used in a system implementing the preferredembodiment. For any particular item 178 listed for inventory in anelectronic auction system 10, the system processes submitted “bid”information from entries 179 at step 205, which, bid information again,in a preferred embodiment, consists of at least the followinginformation extracted from the participating user formatted bid entries179: (1) a numerical value representing the price they are willing topay for the right to play golf at the particular course and time (in bidamount field 188 b) and the user ID (field 188 a); and (2) a rankingrepresenting the user's evaluation of the item relative to other itemshe/she has bid on in the particular group of items available ininventory (in bid ranking field 189). From another perspective, the bidsmade by the user on a group of items—other than the highest ranked bidwhich is a form of unconditional bid—can all be considered “conditional”bids in that each lower ranked bid has an existence that is conditionedon the non-fulfillment of the user's next highest ranked bid. The use ofsuch conditional bids, therefore, is a new feature introduced by thepresent invention which allows an easy and flexible experience for theuser, especially when used in conjunction with unconditional bids.

Again, in other environments it is possible that other user informationmight be collected as part of the bid in optional field 190, such as atime limit expiration for the bid, a maximum value the user is willingto bid, an auto-bid feature, and similar types of data. For purposes ofthe remainder of the discussion below, these three fields 188, 189 and190 define the “bid” as offered by the user. However, some additionalfields, including Active/Inactive Bid field 191 and Winning/Non-winningBid field 192 are used by CAC in connection with each user bid asexplained below. Initially, these status fields, or tags, are preset toInactive and Non-winning respectively for each bid submitted to CAC 100.

CAC 100 is continuously monitoring for new bids on items, and adjusts astatus for an auction item whenever a new bid is received within theauction time window, and at the auction expiration time. Thus, at step210 it reviews all user bids and for each user tags a highest ranked bid(i.e., the bid with the highest value in field 189 for the particularuser) with a designation Active Bid by setting flag 191 for the bid. At215, all bids set as an Active Bid or as a Winning Bid for an item (orgroup of items) are put in a first grouping, and ordered from highest tolowest for a particular item. Again, because an item may be able toaccommodate more than one user (i.e., it may represent four separate teeopportunities at the same time, or there may be an indication that thereare four times available in the item quantify field 185 so that therecan be four winning bids), there may be more than one winning bid peritem. Thus, the present invention accommodates situations where itemscan be grouped (depending on how similar they are) and be auctionedtogether. If the inventory is listed for auction in blocks of multiplesimilar items, the number of items in the block determines the number ofwinning bids, which thereby sets the minimum winning bid level 217. Ifthere is only one item in each inventory block, the minimum, winning bidwill be equal to the highest Active Bid. Thus, a Minimum Winning bidvalue is determined at step 217 by ranking all ordered Active Bids andWinning Bids and selecting a bid value that is equal to that bid fromthis set that corresponds to the xth from the top, where x representsthe number of items. Thus, the bid in the xth sorted position representsthe lowest possible winning bid for one of the x items; again, in somesituations, x may be equal to one.

At 220 a determination is made as to which if any of the ordered ActiveBids and Winning Bids are higher than the Minimum Winning bid 220. If aparticular Active Bid is higher than the Minimum Winning bid, suchActive Bid is tagged (by setting the Winning bid field) as a Winning Bidat step 225. In addition, the sorted Active Bids and Winning Bids mightbe subjected to satisfying a second condition before they are declaredWinning Bids, by comparing them to a reserve or minimum bid valueprovided by the seller. If necessary (depending on the number of userbids, and the number of items in the group for auction) the older lowestbid that has a Winning Bid designation (which is now supplanted by thenewer higher amount in the new Winning Bid is then re-designated as anActive Bid Snow. If there is sufficient time remaining before the bidwindow closes, the user who originally provided the re-designated bid isnotified at 230 that they have been outbid. Note that, in this regard,typically the “bidding window” available to users to submit bids will beshorter than (or expire before) the auction expiration period, to allowthe system to properly handle any last minute provided bids. If theoutbid user does not increase their bid within a specified time frame atstep 235, their bid is designated Inactive Bid at step 238 and suchuser's next highest ranked bid (if such exists) is tagged Active Bid240. If the user increases their bid during the available time period,then the bid remains an Active Bid and the maximum bid amount for thatbid is increased to the new amount entered by the user at step 245. Ifthere is not sufficient time before the bid window closes toprocess/send a notification, the Active Bid expires at the end of thebid window and the user's next highest ranking bid becomes their ActiveBid 240.

A determination is made at step 250 as to whether the bid window hasclosed by checking field 185. If bidding for the item is not closed, thebid—now having the designation Winning Bid—is returned to the pool ofoutstanding bids to be examined and at 215 system 10 again goes throughthe process of ordering outstanding Active Bids and Winning Bids. If thebidding window is closed, a determination is made at step 255 aboutwhether any Active Bids remain. If such bids remain, step 215 is againrepeated. When there are remaining Active Bids, this means that not allWinning Bids have been resolved, and that they must be rendered intoInactive Bids or Winning Bids by the auction resolution process. If noActive Bids exist, the Winning Bid(s) are declared as winners at 260.Winning bidders may then be notified through e-mail. All bids for theitem are considered processed when the highest ranked remaining bid forall users is either set as a Winning Bid or an Inactive Bid. One benefitof the present invention, therefore, lies in the fact that a multitudeof items can be resolved simultaneously, and with a multitude ofpotential winners. Since winners are not notified until the end of theauction time window, there is also no collusion possible between buyersto try and guess or experiment with artificial bids in an effort toglean any reserve price set.

Any Active Bids below the Minimum Winning Bid are thus routed at 220 forfurther processing if bidding is still open. If a user bid has a WinningBid status, but is nevertheless lower than the minimum winning bid, suchbid is given a designation Active Bid at step 228 by setting such statusin field 191. After step 228 therefore, the only bids that are ActiveBids are those that do not exceed the Minimum Winning Bid level. Sometime after this, a message is sent at step 230 to notify the user andinform them of a time frame (which may or may not correspond to the endof the bidding period) during which they may increase their currentactive bid. If the user does not increase the value in field 181 for theActive Bid for the item during the available time window, their ActiveBid is then given a designation (by setting field 191) as an InactiveBid at 238. An Inactive Bid designation represents the fact that it isno longer active, or in the pool of outstanding bids to be consideredfor the item's auction. Of course, in those applications where a maximumbid amount option is presented to the user (for inclusion in field 190),the value specified in this field can be compared first against theActive Bid amount to determine if the Active Bid amount can be increasedwithout resorting to notifying the user. In this fashion, the user canavoid having to re-bid in a controlled fashion below a threshold limitof their choosing.

In any event, if the user does not respond in time, the user's nexthighest ranked bid then receives the designation tag of Active Bid atstep 240 and this next bid is now submitted to the pool of outstandingactive bids and again goes through the process of ordering at 215.

If the user's Active Bid is increased at step 235 within the availabledefined time window, an Active Bid Amount parameter is increased bysystem 10 at step 245 to reflect such new amount as set out in field181. The now updated Active Bid returns to the pool of outstandingactive bids and again goes through the process of ordering at 215.

At step 250, a determination is made concerning whether the item's bidwindow has been closed. If so, all Active Bids for the item areidentified at 255; at this stage, a resolution of all bids asWinning/Non-Winning, or as Active/Inactive, might not have beenfinalized. If there are any remaining Active Bids, this means that notall Winning Bids have been resolved, and that they must be rendered intoInactive Bids or Winning Bids by the auction resolution process.

The timing between the close of bidding (i.e., the bid window close) andthe determination of final bid results, or auction close, is configuredsuch that there is a sufficient interval between when the last, new bidis accepted by CAC 100 and when the auction results are finalized sothat all bids are processed and determined, in the end, to be eitherWinning Bids or Inactive Bids.

Upon determining the final winning bids 260, payment for some portion ofthe winning bid amount may be finalized at step 265, based on paymentinformation provided earlier by the user (i.e., such as a credit cardnumber) Notifications are sent by E-mail or other suitable means tonotify winning bidders 270. These notifications confirm the commitmentfor sale by the seller and include information such as the date, timeand location of the item, confirmation of the credit card transactionand a confirmation code or other identifying information forverification purposes.

FIG. 3 shows a portion of an exemplary user auction item data inputtable 300, which the user may access at any time to see the status ofhis/her bids. The user interacts with table 300 (as part of anappropriately designed input screen discussed below) and such tablecontains at least some of the bid information noted above for each item179, in bid amount field 188 b and bid ranking field 189. In itssimplest form, user input table 300 is created for each separate userhaving an ID with the system, and consists of at least three columns ofinformation; it is understood of course that it may include otherinformation relevant to the particular user/system. Item Descriptioncolumn 310 contains an item number or item description for the auctionitems (which can be obtained from item ID field 180 or item descriptionfield 181). The Bid column 315 contains a bid amount input by the userfor each of the items shown in the first column, as will be used for bidamount field 188 b above. The Rank Order column 320 contains a relativeranking input by the user for each of the items shown in the firstcolumn which will be used for bid ranking field 189 noted earlier. Asexplained earlier, any mutually exclusive items bid on by the user musteither all be included in the same auction, or alternatively the itemsmay be in successive auctions. In the latter case, the rank ordering ofthe items is constrained by the data input entry mechanism such that theauction closing date for each successively ranked item is the same orlater than an auction closing date of a preceeding ranked item. Therankings are controlled so that they range from one to N, where onerepresents a highest selection, and N the lowest selection for the Nitems bid on by the buyer. Again, as explained above, all the bids bythe user can be considered conditional bids, in that each is utilized inthe auction process/becomes actualized or unconditional only when theimmediately preceeding, highest ranked bid is declared an Inactive Bid.

The preferred method, therefore, allows two separate constraints (priceand rank) to be used for an auction process, as opposed to the priorart, where only a single constraint (price) is used. In the preferredmethod, no ties are allowed for the ranking process. All items must beranked relative to each other, and suitable control/filtering logic canbe employed to ensure that this is done (through form auto-fillingfeatures if necessary) before the user finishes completing data entry.It should be apparent that the data needed from the user for theseentries can be provided in any conventional fashion by the user, such asthrough an interaction with an HTML page, a Java based applet, etc. Theindividual user input tables 300 in a preferred system are viewable,modifiable, etc., only by the user creating the same for privacy andsecurity reasons.

An important facet of the present invention is that the user ispermitted to aggregate or create collections of items representing anexpression of his/her bidding desires with ease and flexibility, evenacross auction window boundaries. These collections of items are notdefined by system 10, but rather, under the control and specification ofthe user. In this manner, the user is allowed to define a biddingstrategy that permits them to obtain at most 1 of the N selected itemsas a final selection, even across different auctions. In other words,when the user only wants or desires one golf tee time, for example, theyare allowed to express and define a multitude of potential choices ofdates and times, and propose a bid and ranking for each, even if theyoccur in different auction periods. This is in contrast to the prior artwhere, for example, in order to bid on a multitude of items, the user isrequired to make an irrevocable commitment on each, and in the end,he/she could end up having to purchase more than what they wanted.Furthermore, the user is also constrained in such systems to bid only onone auction at a time, and he/she cannot “roll over” their bid toanother auction as in the present invention. In this regard, system 10is intelligent enough to realize that the user actually only wants oneof such choices, and therefore it operates on his/her behalf to find aselection that best matches the particular user's price/rankingconstraints, even if multiple auctions must be resolved to satisfy suchselection. While the user may not obtain his/her first choice, they areguaranteed that they will not end up with more than one of theirselections.

Nonetheless, the present invention has the ability to seamlessly mimicthe functionality of the prior art (if such is desired) by allowing theuser to define yet another set of items for which he/she wants to bid.From a practical perspective, there is no limit to the number ofdistinct user input auction tables that can be associated or used by asingle user. For example, a user may bid on one collection of itemscorresponding to a single tee time at a particular course, and aseparate collection of items corresponding to a single tee time at adifferent course. Similar situations could be set up for each distinctgroup of items the user wishes to bid on.

FIG. 4 depicts how a cross reference table of users and items for anauction can be compiled from the auction items 178, bid entries 179, andauction status information gleaned from the aforementioned auctionprocess itself depicted in FIG. 2. 400. To simplify the presentdiscussion, in this example it is assumed the auction closing date forall items in the table is the same, but the resolution of cases wherethey are not the same will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe present teachings. Item descriptions (from ID field 180 and/or otherfields 181-185) are shown in the top row of the table 405. Useridentities (from user ID field 188 a) are contained in the first columnof the table 410. Each cell of the table shows a current bid amount andrank order for each respective item by each respective user 415. As seenin FIG. 4, each of Item 1, Item 2, Item 3 have received three bids fromthree separate users, with Item 1 ranked highest by User 1 and User 3,and Item 3 ranked highest by User 2. To begin the auction, since User 1and User 3 have ranked Item 1 the highest and User 2 has ranked Item 3the highest, these bids would be initially identified, tagged and sortedas Active Bids to be considered when determining a Winning Bid for eachitem. However, the bid by User 2 on Item 1, while higher in value thaneither the bid from User 1 or User 3, would not be used during theauctioning process of the present method unless it were designatedalready as an Active Bid for User 2 (i.e., in the event Item 3 hadalready been auctioned, and User 2 had not received an indication of aWinning Bid).

The auction cross reference tables 400 in a preferred system areviewable, modifiable, etc., only by a system administrator for privacyand security reasons. However, it may be desirable and in factadvantageous to permit individual users to see the status of particularauction items in some fashion in order to optimize the bidding process.While the specific types of visual output for the users are discussed indetail below (in connection with FIGS. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10), it can benoted even generally at this point that to control the dynamics of thebidding process, a variety of choices concerning the informationpresented to the participants from auction items 178, bid entries 179and the auction status can be effectuated to influence the behavior ofthe participants and thus optimize the sale of the inventory and thesatisfaction of the auction participants. For example, it might bedesirable in some cases to control shielding of the identity of theauction participants, to discourage collaboration/manipulation of theauction process. Furthermore, it might be desirable to control what bidsare shown for an item. As an example, the system may allow only thehighest ranked unconditional bid for an item to be seen by the auctionparticipants, rather than the highest ranked overall bid (conditional orunconditional) for an item. In addition, it might be beneficial toprovide at least some information about the number of conditional bidsfor an item, and their bid value, again to help inform users andmotivate them to bid appropriately for items. Information on a user byuser basis (such as the value of an unconditional bid, the number ofunconditional bids, etc.) may or may not be provided to other users.These are but example, of course, and it should be apparent that any oneor more of these controls, some variation/combination, or some othercontrol might be used to better stimulate and maximize the biddingprocess for any particular auction environment.

Thus, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, while thehighest unconditional bid information is available for viewing by usersfor the individual items, the ranking information of each user ispreferably not made visible. Therefore, there is no mechanism in thepreferred embodiment by which User 1 and/or User 3 can know that it isUser 2's bid, and/or that it is only a second-ranked (conditional) bid.Instead, such users see only that there is at least one unconditionalbid that is as high (or more) than the highest ranked unconditional bid,and will have to take this figure at face value as a potential ActiveBid for the item unless User 2 is satisfied by some other auction item(i.e., such as Item 3) and thus drops out of consideration for Item 1.This is because they do not know whether the bid by User 2 on this itemmight be processed because the latter's unconditional bid on anotheritem might not be satisfied. In this fashion, therefore, bidding foritems is maximized from the perspective of the seller, since many morebids are obtained and processed. Even if some of them ultimately may notmaterialize into real purchases because they are only conditional bids,their mere existence is enough to increase the demand for the item, andthus the potential bid price. To prevent bid manipulation, the varioususer bids can be made non-retractable, so that users cannot reduce theirbids if it turns out that a potential co-bidder is eventuallyeliminated. For example if a user 1 submits a bid at X+1$ —becausehe/she sees a bid at X$ by user 2—user 1 is preferably not allowed tochange the bid (or ranking) later to take advantage of user 2'swithdrawal. In the preferred embodiment, a graphical representationindicates the number and amount of bids that are not currently ActiveBids or Winning Bids and clearly indicates the status of conditional andunconditional bids. For example, the table may indicate the number ofnext highest ranked bids for all system users that are as high or higherthan the current winning bid amount. As a further refinement, the systemmay show the number of bids exceeding the current winning bid versus therelative rank order of the bids (i.e., by grouping the bids based uponwhether they are the next highest ranked bids, two rank orders higher,three rank orders higher, etc.).

FIG. 5 illustrates in more detail how an auction process illustrated inFIG. 2 of the present system would utilize an auction outcome table 500to determine and record the outcome of the various bid entries enteredin auction cross reference table 400 in FIG. 4. The item IDs are shownin the first row 505 and the user IDs are listed in the first column510. For simplicity, it is assumed that no bids are increased and thatItem 1, Item 2 and Item 3 are to be auctioned simultaneously with thesame auction closing. In this example, system 10 first tags user bidsranked highest (i.e., with a #1 rating) as Active Bids; thus, bids 515,540, 545 are initially designated as Active Bids. User 1's Active Bid515 is tagged Winning Bid because it is higher than user 3's Active Bid545. User 2's Active Bid 540 is tagged as a Winning Bid because thereare no other Active Bids or Winning Bids for Item 3. User 3 is notifiedthey must increase their Active Bid for Item 1. In this scenario if nobid is increased, User 3's Active Bid 545 is tagged as an Inactive Bidand User 3's second ranked bid 560 is now tagged Active Bid.

In a second iteration, User 3's second ranked bid 560 is tagged as aWinning Bid for Item 3 because it is higher ($13) than User 2's firstranked bid ($12) for Item 3. User 3's second ranked bid has previouslychanged from a purely conditional bid to an actual bid at step 210 (FIG.2). At this point, nothing has changed for Items 1 and 2, so they arenot considered in this iteration. User 2's bid 540 for Item 3 is nowre-designated from a Winning Bid to Active Bid. User 2 is notified theymust increase their bid, or potentially lose Item 3. Again, in the eventof no increases, User 2's Active Bid 540 is tagged as an Inactive Bidand their second ranked bid 530 for Item 1 is now tagged as their ActiveBid. In other words, as for User 3 earlier, User 2's second ranked bid(which was only conditional before) becomes converted into an actual bidfor the auction process.

In a third iteration, User 2's second ranked bid 530 for Item 1 istagged as a Winning Bid because it is higher than User 1's first rankedbid 515. User 1's first ranked bid 515 is tagged Active Bid and anotification is sent to increase the bid. Assuming no increase, User 1'sActive Bid 515 is tagged Inactive Bid and their second ranked bid 520 istagged Active Bid.

In a fourth iteration, User 1's second ranked bid 520 for Item 2 istagged as a Winning Bid because it is the highest, and only outstanding,Active Bid on Item 2. The auction for all three items is now completedbecause all three users each have a bid that is tagged as a Winning Bid.As a final result, User 1 is declared the winner for Item 2, User 2 isdeclared the winner for Item 1, and User 3 is declared the winner forItem 3. Thus, the auction process for the group of items is resolvedwith reference to considering both the items and bids collectively atthe same time, rather than on considering only one item at a time, orone bidder at a time.

While the situation involving an increase in bid is not discussedspecifically above, it is apparent that this event merely requires yetanother iteration to be processed for the item in question. Someobservations can be made about the bidding process of the presentinvention, including the following:

-   -   (1) An item does not necessarily go to the user submitting the        highest bid (see e.g., Item 2) since there is an extra dimension        of ranking involved which modifies the auction behavior and        resolution process. Nonetheless, assuming no minimum bid        amounts, whenever the number of bidders exceeds the number of        items and every item is given the highest possible ranking by at        least one user, each item should be successfully auctioned.        While it is possible that an item might not be the subject of a        successful bid if it is not given the highest possible ranking        by at least one user, this could be avoided by requiring that        every user make a bid, even a conditional one, on every item in        the group. Even if the bid is very low, this approach at least        guarantees to the seller that the inventory will be disposed of,        and encourages buyers to make higher bids for the items they        really want (to avoid being forced to accept their lower ranked        selections).    -   (2) The existence of many bids (the unconditional highest ranked        bid and the lower ranked conditional bids) can result in a        higher overall winning bid when at least some outstanding bid        information is presented to users (see, e.g., Item 3, where the        bid by User 1 can influence the bids by User 2 and User 3) thus        increasing the profitability to the seller.    -   (3) While the seller's profitability is increased because        bidding is encouraged on multiple items (since the user is only        accountable for one item in the end he/she feels more at liberty        to put in a bid for more than one item) the resolution of the        auction is done in a manner that considers first the ranking        constraints provided by the users, rather than the pricing        parameters set out by the bidder or those associated with the        item. In other words, the process is driven from the perspective        of finding a winning bid for each user based on their highest        ranking, and he/she is allowed to change this bid as needed to        maximize their satisfaction and price constraints.    -   (4) The types of items that can be auctioned simultaneously can        be expanded to include such things as those involving access of        some kind, such as transportation (airplane, train, bus, etc.)        seats, restaurant seats, theatre/concert seats, sporting event        seats, and/or to groups of similarly related tangible articles        such as collectibles, coins, stamps, books, antiques,        recordings, paintings, furniture pieces, clothing, jewelry,        automobiles, appliances, electronic devices (computers, stereos,        VCRs, TVs, cameras, etc.) real properties, office materials,        food, and other consumer staples and/or to groups of similarly        related tangible articles such as grains, chemicals, packaging        containers, wood pulp or other industrial raw materials and/or        to groups of similarly related industrial things such as those        involving access of some kind, such as freight transportation        (airplane, train, truck, etc.), pollution permits, water rights        or other such industrial requirements.    -   (5) The process can be extended to N items logically grouped in        some fashion, and M separate users competing for this group, so        that each of the N items is the subject of a corresponding        single Winning Bid from one of the M users. This type of auction        situation is not easily (if at all) resolvable using prior art        techniques, and yet the present invention accomplishes a fair        result that is appealing to both buyers and sellers. Moreover,        it allows a user to enter a bid for a single item that may be        handled across multiple successive auctions, and thus allow the        user more flexibility and control for ultimately satisfying a        particular item need. By automatically rolling over the user's        highest ranked bid to an item in a successive auction, the user        is guaranteed ongoing participation with a minimum of        interaction/monitoring and involvement.

In a related variation, to smooth out the computational load on CAC 100,system 10 can restrict and categorize an inventory of items so thatduring any particular period, a predetermined number of items areresolved on a regular basis. For example, it is probably better toschedule a resolution of 100 items daily, rather than 700 items at theend of the meek. Using a number of conventional programming techniques,the inventory can be controlled and managed so that users cannotoverload a particular resolution period with too much inventory.

FIG. 6 depicts a preferred user item search input screen as it wouldappear within a user's browser loaded with a web page containing dataentry fields that are appropriately configured to participate inlocating inventory items 178 in an auction search from databases 165 and170 (FIG. 1 above). To conduct a search, the user first selects a rangein date entry field 610 corresponding to the dates on which they wish toplay. The user inputs a region in region entry field 620 which they wishto review available tee times. Finally, the user inputs the number ofplayers in their group in group size entry field 630. The number ofplayers in their group may be different then the golf courses' normalgroup size. For example, a user may have a group of two people,themselves and one other person. However, golf courses normally send outgroups of four persons. In this case, the user would normally expecttheir group, if they successfully bid, to be paired with two additionalgolfers. Other environments where the invention is used may or may nothave such groupings, of course.

After inputting the necessary information, the user submits their searchcriteria by pressing a Search command button 640. Results of the searchare displayed on a new page, in the form of a search results page 700,as illustrated in FIG. 7 generally.

FIG. 7 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a user search results page700 as it also would appear within a user's browser. In this example,the search result page is specifically tailored to display searches ofavailable golf tee times from available auction items 178 matching theuser's criteria. Page 700 displays the search criteria including a daterange 705 and group size 710 corresponding to the user's selection. Inaddition, search results page 700 includes a number of data fieldsvisible to the user, which, as mentioned above, can be tailored todisplay various types of information adjusted to the specific needs,desires, design goals, etc. of a particular auction system. In thepresent preferred embodiment, page 700 includes at least an auctionclosing date indicator for the selected display times in field 715. Inthis instance, the specified auction closing date in field 715 is thesame for all displayed times. However, it is possible, as mentionedearlier, to have multiple auction closing dates for the availableinventory. Search results page 700 also shows a golf course name infield 720, a date of an available time for each item in field 725, atime window for the item in field 730, a number of inventory itemsavailable in such time window of the size specified by the user in field735, a minimum acceptable bid or reserve price in field 740, a currentwinning bid level in field 745 (which, as noted above, is preferably thehighest unconditional bid), selection fields 750 for each availableinventory item, a guaranteed price in field 755 indicating an amountwhich the use can bid so as to guarantee purchasing an item withoutfurther processing in the auction process described earlier and anpurchase selection button 760 that allows the user to immediately buythe inventory item at the price specified in field 755.

The user has three options from search results page 700. They can returnto search criteria input screen 600 by pressing a conventional backbutton on their browser and change their search criteria if desired. Or,they can immediately purchase a tee time within one of the time windowsby pressing Buy Now button 760 next to an inventory item of theirchoice. Or they may elect to enter the auction process by selecting oneor more inventory items for bid by selecting the respective selectionbuttons in field 750 next to the item of interest 750. Upon selectingone or more items for bid, the user submits their items of interest forbid entry by pressing Submit button 765.

FIG. 8 depicts a preferred embodiment of a user bid entry page 800 as itwould appear within a user's browser, and as used to create bid entries179, table 400, etc. Again, in this embodiment the user bid entry screenis tailored specifically for entering bids on golf tee times. This pagecombines some of the results from a search of all available tee times asshown earlier in FIG. 7, based upon the user-defined parameters selectedthere—i.e., by the user's selection in field 750 of the top three itemsin screen 700. With reference to FIG. 8, the use of like numerals hereis intended to represent the corresponding feature from earlier figuresunless otherwise noted. For example, date range 805, group size 810 andauction closing date 815 are the same as noted above for theircounterparts. Similarly as for FIG. 7, for each line item, screen 800displays tee time window date 825, golf course 820, desired tee timetime window 830, minimum bid 840, and current winning bid amount 845.The new display fields in this screen include, however, a first field846 identifying a number of conditional bids higher than current winningbid (which can be gleaned easily with reference to the auction items 178and user bid entries 179) and two additional fields for user bid inputat 848 and 849. Other potential entry fields, such as for specifyingpersonal data about the user (payment information, skill level, etc.)are not shown, but, of course, could be implemented in any conventionalfashion.

The first bid input field 848 is provided for the user to identify amaximum bid for each tee time window that they bid on. The second bidinput field 849 is provided for the user to identify a rank ordering ofthe items, in this case, the tee time windows. As noted earlier, thisinput capture screen 800 ensures that the rank ordering provided by theuser is constrained such that each tee time window has a unique rank infield 849. The ranking can be provided in any convenient form, and inthe present example, textual descriptions are used, but other numericaldesignations could be employed instead. The ranking ordering constraintis also imposed in a manner that requires that items having an earlierauction expiration period must receive a higher ranking. For example, anitem with an auction closing date of Jan. 1, 2000, must be given ahigher ranking than an item with an auction closing date of Jan. 2,2000. In the event that the first item is not successfully acquired bythe user, the present invention automatically designates the nexthighest ranked bid as the active bid, and this can occur even acrossitems having different auction closing times. In this way, a user canenter a single bid, and yet have such bid carried over multiple auctionsuntil they achieve a successful result.

Upon entering a maximum bid and rank for each selected tee time, theuser submits their bids by pressing Submit button 860, and they arethereafter processed in the manner explained above with reference toFIGS. 1, 2.

FIG. 9 illustrates a seller inventory input page 900 for sellers toprovide information on inventory items 178 for auction, which, in thepreferred embodiment, is for golf tee times. Again, the input mechanismis preferably available online through a conventional browser tomaximize convenience to sellers. As above, like numerals are used todenote like parameters where appropriate. Thus, a seller inputs newinventory for an auction by first inputting a date for the tee time infield 905. The seller then specifies in field 906 whether an auctionadministrator should collect the entire bid amount or only the premiumabove the standard greens fee at the end of the auction. The seller alsospecifies a normal greens fee for this date in field 907 (which can beuseful for various comparative analyses not relevant to the presentinvention) and a time interval between tee times in field 908, which isused to notify winning bidders of the exact winning time at the close ofthe auction period—in other words, an item might be identified as an8:00 tee time, but the actual exact time might be offset by some spacingperiod to accommodate multiple persons within the time slot.

To input information for the auction items (tee times), the seller firstspecifies a time window in field 930 for the tee times, and the firsttee time available within that time window in field 931 for each lineitem listed. The seller also provides a group size in field 936, whichspecifies the number of available spots of that group size within thespecified time window in field 935. The seller also specifies a minimumacceptable bid amount/reserve price 945 and a Buy Now price in field955, which represents a price at which the buyer can be guaranteed topurchase a tee time immediately, without having to wait for the end ofthe auction. Finally, the seller enters the inventory for sale bypressing Submit button 965.

It should be noted that user interaction screens of FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9are web pages with interfaces specifically adapted for a golf tee timeauction, and are but one expression of a preferred embodiment of theinvention. It will be understood that the invention will be tailored andexpressed through routine skill in different ways to accommodatedifferent auction environments, and therefore it is not limited to anyparticular implementation. For example, while an Internet version of theauction input/review screens is described that operates within abrowser, these aspects of the invention could also be implemented inhand-held devices or terminals. Furthermore, it is not necessary thatthe users be remote from each other, and, in fact, they can be at asingle centralized location as in the case of a live car auction, forexample, where many participants may be at a single location bidding onan item put up for display. Thus, the particulars of the I/Ointeractions are not material except to the extent that they aresufficient to allow users to engage in the auctioning processesdescribed herein. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the underlying software code associated with such screens forhandling and interacting with databases 160, 165, 170, auction items178, processing user queries and bid submissions, retrieving andpresenting search results, etc. can be implemented in any conventionalfashion, and thus is not discussed at length here since it is notmaterial to an understanding of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a simplified flow chart of the bidding process as seen from auser's viewpoint from interacting with screens 600, 700 and 800 above.The user can search the available inventory with user item search inputscreen 600 (FIG. 6) by specifying their particular criteria at step 1010(for example, available times at a particular course). At step 1020 CAC100 will search the appropriate databases 155 and present a list ofpotential items for the user using search results page 700 (FIG. 7). Ifthere is no item acceptable to the user at step 1030, the user isallowed to specify a new search at 1035, or to the query at step 1037.If the search is continued, new search parameters are entered at step1040, and the process is repeated.

In the case where at least one item is found that matches the user'scriteria, the search results are tagged at step 1050. For each of theitems presented to the user using bid entry page 800, he/she can enterbids at 1060, and rank them at step 1070. Thus, the unconditional bidsand conditional bids are submitted at the same time for any group ofitems. At 1080, the user can submit the bids, and, if desired, monitorthe auction process at step 1090 using search results page 700. At step1095, the user may receive auction results, either in the form of e-mailmessages requesting an increase in a bid, or in the form of anotification of the final auction results. Thereafter the user can takeappropriate action such as by increasing an amount of the bid, or bysimply letting a next highest bid roll be considered instead by default.

Thus the reader will see that the above system provides a highlyadvantageous system, to simultaneously auction mutually exclusive items.This system allows the user to enter multiple, rank ordered bids thatare sequentially processed. This allows the user to effectively bid on alarge number of items without the concern that they will receive morethan one item. The system has the additional advantages of increasingthe average expected winning bid for each item, increasing theprobability of sale for each of the items and decreasing the incentivefor a user to enter incrementally higher bids at the last moment of theauction (sniping).

It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the abovediscussion is directed to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, and that the present teachings can be used in a variety ofdifferent forms, in a number of different environments, applications,etc. and with various supplementary features. For example, to enhancethe experience of successful participants, at least in a golfenvironment application, it is beneficial to evaluate user providedskill levels to combine and stagger play accordingly. Thus, an ultimatedecision for identifying a specific winning tee time for an 8:00 teeslot an auction participant (i.e., whether it is actually 8:10, 8:20,8:30, etc.) could be based on playability factors particular to theparticipants, the course, available play spacings, etc. Accordingly, itis intended that all such alterations and modifications be includedwithin the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the followingclaims.

1. A method of processing bid information for an electronic auctioncomprising the steps of: (a) providing a database of items available forauction; (b) receiving a set of bids from one or more bidders for acorresponding set of items selected from said database, each bid in saidset of bids including at least a bid price and a bid ranking specifiedby a bidder for an item; wherein said bid ranking from said bidder foran item represents a desired order in which a bid is to be resolved inthe electronic auction compared to any other bids made by such bidderfor other items in said database of items; further wherein said biddercan specify that a set of ranked bids submitted by such bidder for a setof items should be treated as mutually exclusive, such that theelectronic auction determines at most a single item to be awarded tosaid bidder from said set of ranked bids by correlating a rankingrelationship between separate items bid on by said bidder.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein a set of bids from any particular bidder eachinclude a unique bid ranking for each of said corresponding set ofitems.
 3. The method of claim 1, further including a step (c): providinga maximum bid price for each bid, and an auto-bid indicator for raisingsaid bid price as needed until said maximum bid price is reached.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further including a step (c): monitoring a status ofthe electronic auction, including a high bid for an item, andinformation relating to other conditional bids for said item.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further including a step (c): selecting a guaranteedpurchase option for an item so that said item is purchased withoutundergoing further processing in the electronic auction.
 6. A method ofmonitoring bid information for an electronic auction comprising thesteps of: (a) retrieving a set of items from an auction database inaccordance with a specified search criteria; (b) displaying said set ofitems; (c) for each item in said set of items, displaying a currenthighest unconditional bid price specified by a bidder and informationrelating to any conditional bids specified by other bidders for saiditem; wherein said conditional bids are not considered by an auctionprocessing engine until and unless they become unconditional bids duringan auction period associated with said item.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein said set of items correspond to inventory to be auctioned duringa common auction period.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein saidinformation relating to said conditional bids includes a numerical valueindicating a number of said conditional bids having a bid price equal toor exceeding said highest unconditional bid price and/or a minimum bidprice for said item.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein said itemscorrespond to access rights to an entertainment facility.
 10. The methodof claim 9, wherein said entertainment facility is a golf course, andsaid items are golf tee times at said golf course.
 11. A method ofconducting an electronic auction comprising the steps of: (a) compilinga database of items available for auction; (b) grouping said items basedon a common auction period to create a set of common items available toa plurality of purchasers for bidding; (c) receiving bids for said setof common items from said plurality of purchasers, said bids includingat least a bid price and a bid ranking specified by a purchaser for anitem, said bids being comprised of separate sets of mutually exclusivebids from each of said plurality of purchasers for separate and mutuallyexclusive items; (d) processing said separate sets of mutually exclusivebids based on both said bid price and said bid ranking specified by saidpurchaser for said set of common items to determine winning bids foreach item in said set of common items by correlating a rankingrelationship between bids for separate items made by such purchasers.12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of said plurality of usersreceives at most one winning bid for said set of common items.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, wherein a winning bid for an item in said set ofcommon items is determined by comparing bids submitted by purchasers inan order determined by said bid ranking submitted by said purchasers forsaid item.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein said electronic auctionfor an item proceeds in a sequence determined by examining highestranked bids in said separate sets of bids submitted for said item bypurchasers, and not by reference to a highest bid price offered for saiditem.
 15. The method of claim 11, further including the following steps:(e): notifying a first purchaser when a highest ranked bid from saidfirst purchaser is determined to be not a winning bid for an item; (f)permitting said first purchaser to increase an amount of said bid pricefor said item within a predetermined time period; (g) notifying a secondpurchaser that their highest ranked bid is a winning bid when said firstpurchaser does not increase their bid price within said predeterminedprice period.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein said winning bids canbe determined even before an end of said common auction period by givingpurchasers an immediate purchase option.
 17. The method of claim 11,wherein said bid prices for said separate sets of mutually exclusivebids for said set of common items, but not said bid rankings, arevisible to said plurality of purchasers during said common auctionperiod.
 18. A system for conducting an electronic auction of itemscomprising: (a) an auction controller accessible by a number of biddingcomputing systems; (b) an auction inventory database accessible by saidauction controller, and being adapted to store identifying informationfor the items; and (c) an auction bid database accessible by saidauction controller, and being adapted to store information for bids onthe items, each of said bids including both a bid price and a bidranking specified by a bidder for an item, said bid rankingcorresponding to a desired order in which a bid is to be resolvedcompared to any other bids made by such bidder for other items in saiddatabase of items; said auction controller being configured such that itprocesses said bids for said items in accordance with both said bidprice and said bid ranking specified by a bidder for said items and suchthat said bidder's ranked bids for any of the items can be treated asmutually exclusive by correlating a ranking relationship between rankedbids made on separate items bid on by such bidder.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, further including an e-mail processor for notifying bidders ofresults of the electronic auction.
 20. The system of claim 18, furtherincluding an administrative computing device for performingadministrative tasks for said auction controller.
 21. The system ofclaim 18, wherein said bidding computing systems are connected through anetwork to said auction controller.
 22. The system of claim 18, whereinall of the items are auctioned at the same time.
 23. A system forconducting an electronic auction of items comprising: (a) an electronicauction file for storing information concerning auction items; (b) anelectronic bid file for storing a set of bids for a corresponding set ofitems selected from said auction file, each bid in said set of bidsincluding at least a bid price and a bid ranking specified by a bidderfor an item; (c) an electronic auction processor for processing said setof bids based on both said bid price and said bid ranking specified bybidders for said corresponding set of items to determine if there is atleast one winning bid for one of said corresponding set of items; andwherein a single bidder can bid on more than one item in the electronicauction, but said electronic auction processor can be programmed to onlygenerate at most a single winning bid for said single bidder bycorrelating a ranking relationship between bids made on separate itemsbid on by such single bidder.
 24. An electronic auction systemcomprising: a. means for entering auction inventory items; and b. meansfor storing said auction inventory items; and c. means for reviewingsaid auction inventory items; and d. means for querying said auctioninventory items to create selected auction inventory items satisfyingselection criteria of a potential bidder; e. means for entering a bidamount and a bid ranking specified by a bidder for one or more of saidselected auction inventory items to create one or more bid entries; f.means for storing said bid entries; g. means for processing said bidentries to determine winning bids for said auction inventory items, saidwinning bids being based on both said bid amount and said bid ranking;wherein a bidder can specify that a set of bids submitted by such bidderfor a set of items in said auction inventory items should be processedas mutually exclusive by specifying that a ranking relationship shouldbe correlated between separate bids made by such bidder on separateitems; h. means for transmitting a notification associated with saidwinning bids to one or more bidders.
 25. The system of claim 24, whereinbid entries for an auction item from any individual bidder consist of atleast one unconditional bid.
 26. The system of claim 24, furthercomprising means for transmitting a notice to a bidder that their bidentries do not include a winning bid.
 27. The system of claim 24,further comprising a means for permitting a bidder who has been outbidfor an auction item to increase a bid amount of a bid entry.
 28. Thesystem of claim 24, further comprising a means for coordinating paymentof any winning bids.
 29. The system of claim 24, further comprising ameans for observing a status of any auctions.
 30. The system of claim24, further comprising a means to store user information.
 31. The systemof claim 24, further comprising a means to store vendor information. 32.The system of claim 24, further comprising a means to store and retrievehistorical auction results.